The Athlete - The Athlete's Prologue Your tale spoke with...

The Athlete’s Prologue Your tale spoke with welcome candor On his-story’s forgetful slander Of womynhood, without the weight Of testosterone’s neglectful hate. Every time I see an ancient tree I shall remember your soliloquy, And breathe in deep the buoyant air! Nonetheless, I do not care For intellectual extemporizing, Or scientific apotheosizing; This womyn’s place is in the paint, Without high-heeled hurdles or girdled restraint. If anywhere disgrace exists And overt sexism yet persists The field of play is an aphorism For thriving male chauvinism. I’ve run quarterback sneaks and tailback flares And hit up shoe stores for Mike’s Nike Airs And lived the Zone and “felt the flow” And fractured joints and broken bones… I’ve practiced just as hard as you! And ain’t I a fucking womyn, too? So listen up, you feminists, You pissed off, bull-dyke alchemists, For 32 years we’ve talked the talk: It’s about damn time we walked the walk. My story follows that manly bastion Of grunting, war paint, and competitive passion; Of locker rooms and gloried halls; Of our very own American football. Cultural and physical female exclusion Is a part of the warrior’s general collusion. So listen up and pay attention To this football player’s angry anthem When gender roles were redefined Because a squad of butchies crossed their lines. The Athlete’s Story My tale begins in modern times In a crowded city besieged with crime, Where gutters flowed with sewage waste And the city’s tenants walked in haste

This preview
has intentionally blurred sections.
Sign up to view the full version.

Down the metal forest’s hundred blocks Staring at its crusty sidewalks. Known for its impoverished and woeful plight An urban school is my chosen site. It was a rough school that hired police inspectors, Had sniffing dogs, metal detectors, Locker rooms with surveillance monitors And barbed-wire, alarmed, fenced-in perimeters. The MVP of my defiant tale Ranks ten-out-of-ten on the Bad-ass Scale. Named after Athena, queen of craft Who burst from her father with weapons held aft And became the goddess of wisdom and war: The Radicalesbian of Grecian lore. True to the heritage her name suggests Athena was blessed with rebelliousness. She danced like a wildfire and spoke like a flood, And breathed with the desire that pulsed in her blood. Athena’s unobstructed passion (Which offended conformists in workwomyn-like fashion) Was finally manifest at the Stanton School Where she tasted the climate—then broke its rules. She searched for a home in clubs and classes

This is the end of the preview. Sign up
to
access the rest of the document.